The ONRSII, the Office for Inventions

Masques à gaz avec bouteille collective photographiés le 4 juin 1927. Destiné aux armées, ce dispositif devait prémunir les troupes des gaz de combat. Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions. Extrait du livre Inventions 1915-1939 de Luce Lebart.

Mask photographed on December 10th, 1922. Due to expanding industrialization, the number of deaths due to asphyxia was increasing steadily. Therefore, the ONSRII worked to ensure that all premises exposed to the threat of such accidents as well as all first aid stations had access to artificial respiration equipment, breathing masks, and oxygen tanks. "This was the only way to dramatically decrease the number of deaths by asphyxiation", according to the magazine Research and Inventions. René…

Machine à laver la vaisselle (février 1925). Alors que la première machine à laver électrique vient d'être mise au point, les procédés mécaniques sont encore perfectionnés par les inventeurs de Meudon. Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions.

Brosse mécanique pour l'étrillage des chevaux, décembre 1921.

Stator (partie fixe où tourne le rotor) d'un des groupes convertisseurs de 2 500 kilovoltampères (kVA), en montage à la centrale électrique, sur le site de l'Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions (ONRSII) à Bellevue, Meudon, le 28 mars 1935. Extrait du livre Inventions 1915-1939 de Luce Lebart.

Acoustic helmet photographed on March 31st, 1936. In the mid-1930s, the ONRSII’s physics laboratory was working to improve their acoustic horns, these extended ears designed for army scouts. Georges Mabboux improved the horns’ walls, allowing for their acoustic reflection to gradually improve while their acoustic transmission decreased when moving from the wider opening towards the narrower one. The goal was to reduce background noise inside the horns and make them more efficient. On March 20th…

Floorboard brush photographed on December 23th, 1927. Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions. Extract from the book Inventions 1915-1939 by Luce Lebart.

Transformateur de 1 200 kilovoltampères (kVA) en cours de montage, sur le site de l'Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions (ONRSII) à Bellevue, Meudon, en janvier 1928.

Construction de la maquette du barrage en voûte de l'oued Ksob (Algérie), sur le site de l'Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions (ONRSII) à Bellevue, Meudon, en mars 1928. Cette maquette permit d'effectuer des essais de résistance par pression hydrostatique de mercure.

Automobile légère (novembre 1937). Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions.

Machine à calculer (février 1932). Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions.

Jumelles de très longue portée (octobre 1930). Le poids des jumelles, de même que la nécessité d'obtenir une image stable et précise, ont conduit les inventeurs de Meudon à les monter sur un dispositif adapté à un véhicule de transport militaire. Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions.

Léonide Belovsoroff’s automobile direction indicator, photographed in December 1928. Developed before the use of blinking lights became widespread to indicate a change in direction, this indicator was intended to take the place of arm signals, which were the main turning indicator used at the time, as they still are for cyclists. The indicator was in the shape of a hand that was raised and lowered by a coil activated by an electrical system installed at the steering wheel. Extract from the book…

Léonide Belovsoroff’s automobile direction indicator, photographed in December 1928. Developed before the use of blinking lights became widespread to indicate a change in direction, this indicator was intended to take the place of arm signals, which were the main turning indicator used at the time, as they still are for cyclists. The indicator was in the shape of a hand that was raised and lowered by a coil activated by an electrical system installed at the steering wheel. Extract from the book…

Sight obstructing goggles, photographed on December 1926. The “metal shrapnel protector” was a pair of goggles used for ocular protec¬tion in times of peace. It was the result of research conducted during the war to protect soldiers and was directly inspired by a model developed in Great Britain in 1917 and in the United States. The goggles were composed of a chromed steel plate protected with “comfortable padding” and faste¬ned with clamped straps. This splinter fragment protection contained …

Sight obstructing goggles, photographed on December 1926. The “metal shrapnel protector” was a pair of goggles used for ocular protec¬tion in times of peace. It was the result of research conducted during the war to protect soldiers and was directly inspired by a model developed in Great Britain in 1917 and in the United States. The goggles were composed of a chromed steel plate protected with “comfortable padding” and faste¬ned with clamped straps. This splinter fragment protection contained …

Taxi equipped with Louis-Auguste Laurenceau’s pedestrian protection device, Mechanics Laboratory, September 23, 1924. "The device consists of a metal chassis cove¬red by a protective grate and rubber cylin¬ders serving as shock absorbers", explains the inventor. He goes on to summarize its operation as follows: "A standing pedestrian involved in a collision with a vehicle running at 20 or 30 kph is first hit at ankle height. . . . The individual thus loses his or her balance and falls to the…

Germain Panis’ apparatus for artificial respiration, photographed on April 26th,1923. The intern for the Public Hospitals of Paris Germain Panis developed what became known as the Panis apparatus for artificial respiration. It includes "an inclined metal frame to support the patient’s chest facing down-ward and a set of levers used to perform the necessary movements". The apparatus is activated using top-to-bottom movements. At a rhythm of fifteen movements per minute, it would "resuscitate"…